A Timeless Note from Mark Twain About the Jewish People, published in the year 1899:
“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” - Mark Twain
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My guess: A culture and tradition in which study is equivalent to prayer
My guess: A culture and tradition in which study is equivalent to prayer
Agree very much, joj.
When I went to the University of Michigan in the late 1970's it was known as "Jew U"
Not a derogatory term, just an acknowledgement, in some ways bragging that almost all the Jews in the Detroit area went to college and only 1 college.........the best, most competitive one. I dated a Jewish girl, Laurie Mazer for around a year at UM.
We had tons of people from out of state and other countries that I met going there but a high portion were Jews, especially in the engineering school, where my classes in atmospheric and oceanic science were.
As a boy growing up, going to a Catholic school, with friends from the same faith, I obviously did not know any Jews.
Where I used to live in Dearborn, growing up is mostly Arabs/Muslims now(they call it the Middle East of North America) and so I've also known dozens of these wonderful people.
When I worked at the Rouge plants/Assembly and Iron Foundry for Ford, while going to college for several years, it was 95% black and of course Detroit has a majority black population, so I had the great fortune to interact with this minority also.
Here in southwest Indiana, as a chess coach for 27 years, I've noted certain things about certain nationalities.
With 4,100 students at 5 schools during that time, we've had amazing success but in my little place in Southern Indiana, the families from India are insanely into chess and many of them are gifted.
Not a great deal of Jews here but I mention chess only because the Jews have an incredible disproportionate amount of grand masters and historical figures that happened for reasons related to your post.
I think there's an inherited DNA element to this too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_chess_players
Jewish players and theoreticians have long been involved in the game of chess and have significantly contributed to the development of chess, which has been described as the "Jewish national game". Chess gained popularity amongst Jews in the 12th century.[1] The game was privileged by distinguished rabbis,[2] as well as by women
Of the first 13 undisputed world champions, six were Jewish or had some Jewish ancestry: Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov.
There are several people that I completely trust as always being sources of authentic climate information that are Jewish. To the point where, they are almost the only ones that I never feel the need to fact check.
Cliff Mass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Mass
My favorite from him, repeated a dozen times here:
"It really boils down to this, once again(Cliff Mass can be counted on as an elite source for using objective, authentic science)"
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-golden-rule-of-climate-extremes.html
The GoldenRule
Considering the substantial confusion in the media about this critical issue, let me provide the GOLDENRULE OF CLIMATE EXTREMES. Here it is:
The more extreme a climate or weather record is, the greater the contribution of natural variability.
Or to put it a different way, the larger or more unusual an extreme, the higher proportion of the extreme is due to natural variability.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindzen
Richard Siegmund Lindzen (born February 8, 1940) is an American atmospheric physicist known for his work in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere, atmospheric tides, and ozonephotochemistry. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers. From 1972 to 1982, he served as the Gordon McKay Professor of Dynamic Meteorology at Harvard University. In 1983, he was appointed as the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he would remain until his retirement in 2013.[2][1] Lindzen has disputed the scientific consensus on climate change and criticizes what he has called "climate alarmism"
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I don't want to stereotype here because this could be completely wrong but Jewish people are blessed with analytical brains that they use for authentic discernment which may help them to separate the wheat from the chaff in science and other fields that feature charlatan's with convincing messages.
Here's another Jew and a favorite of mine, that has a gifted ability to see things that other people can't using his analytical ability and most of the time, he's right on the money with the political points, even though he is sometimes biased. However, even when biased, he gives sound reasoning for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz (/ˈdɜːrʃəwɪts/ DURR-shə-wits; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law.[1][2] From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appointed as the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law in 1993.[3][4] Dershowitz is a regular media contributor, political commentator, and legal analyst.
Related to what I was stating earlier about chess and students of Indian and other nationalities really excelling at chess here in Indiana.
This is the list of the top students for every division based on USCF ratings for the state of Indiana.
http://joepye.net/sci/TopLists2308.htm
I have 3 kids on the list and 1 is a Patel (out of my 5 Patels).
But look at that list. Indiana is NOT a state with alot of families from foreign countries.
However, around 50% of the top chess players in most of our divisions in Indiana fit that category. Just look at the names in this division below(none of our students are here)
Players: Grades 6-8 (1000 and over) No. Name ID St Gr Rate Exp.
1 Xia, Ruoxiao 16025390 IN 8 2122 0424
2 Raman, Arjun 16786670 IN 7 2020 0924
3 Chanda, Shouryesh 30202461 IN 7 1933 0624
4 Pu, Michael 16205213 IN 8 1753 0225
5 Cheng, Christopher 16800151 IN 7 1718 0424
6 Brown, Madison 15962834 IN 7 1679 1123
7 Zhao, Chenyu 16562181 IN 8 1615 1225
8 Escobar, Laura 30696707 IN 8 1556 0823
9 Malhotra, Ekansh 30226400 IN 8 1552 0724
10 Li, Ray 16903933 IN 6 1456 0525
11 Gao, Alexander 16632345 IN 8 1421 1123
12 Zhang, Jason 30319454 IN 7 1324 1023
13 Zhao, Chenran 16562196 IN 8 1209 1223
14 Xu, Sophie 16378072 IN 8 1200 0125
15 Riley, Quinn 30295636 IN 7 1199 1024
16 Chen, YeWei 15857340 IN 8 1197 1123
17 Eriksson, Alexander 16546395 IN 7 1145 0924
18 Joseph, Benji 16159385 IN 7 1133 0324
19 Barash, Max 16661981 IN 7 1119 0823
20 Liu, Henry 15865067 IN 7 1103 0623
21 Davis, Drake 30433177 IN 6 1038 0324
22 Kumari, Khushi 30637081 IN 7 1036 0724
23 Liu, Alex 16333722 IN 7 1036 0525
24 Kodiyath, Vihaan 30542243 IN 7 1004 0324
Mike,
It’s a wonderful mitzvah (good deed) you perform working with kids through chess. Engaging young minds is awesome!
You alluded to DNA. I don’t think there is any significant difference between the races. Culturally, yes. But inherent superiority. NO. That theory was mistakenly born from Darwin’s theories pertaining to natural selection in the 19th century which led to the belief in the ubermensch (superman) stated by Nietzsche which led to the Nazis’ belief in Aryan supremacy.
I don’t believe Jews are better than others but their traditions, both cultural and religious emphasize study. The Talmud is 63 volumes.
Christianity emphasizes love, which is a beautiful thing (when practiced)
Thanks, joj!
We'll have to respectfully disagree on the genetics of brilliance(based on my experience teaching chess to kids) but strongly agree on the positives of the environment and tremendous benefits from hard work and learning effort, which defines many Jewish people.
I'll take a hard working kid with a great attitude every day over one with a bad attitude or that doesn't want to be there Or who isn’t trying.
Yea on Jesus too.
He was a rebel in his day that taught love and forgiveness and helping the less fortunate which became the theme for religions that followed his teachings..
He's inspired more people like MLK and Jimmy Carter to do great things to make the world a much better place than any one person in history.
Speaking of our families from India and their love for chess playing here in Evansville, IN, my brother Gary (who lives in Prague) just sent this article, which was news to me.
The world loves Magnus but I'll be rooting hard for the kid from India!!!
R Praggnanandhaa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_Praggnanandhaa
Praggnanandhaa was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on 10 August 2005.[31] His father, Rameshbabu, works as a branch manager at TNSC Bank,[32] and his mother, Nagalakshmi, is a homemaker who often accompanies him at national and international competitions.[33] He attended Velammal Main Campus in Chennai.[34] He is the younger sibling of Woman Grandmaster and International MasterR. Vaishali.
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Women grandmasters are pretty rare with 50 times more men vs women, so this family is gifted!
There’s a lot more to the comic trio’s Jewishness than the Yiddish they inserted in their films.
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Happy New Year joj, Carl (if he still reads), Beaners (if he still reads), anyone else who celebrates this, and even those who don't.
Though it is celebrated starting this evening, that may or may not agree with one's interpretation of the Old Testament. Per Exodus, the first month of the year (which includes Passover at mid-month) is actually in spring. But per Exodus 23, the end of the year is after fall harvest at the start of the 7th month of the year. So, the 1st month of the year doesn't coincide with the new year!
Thanks, WxFollower.
May you be inscribed in the book of life!
Thanks for sharing that, Larry!
Happy Jewish New Year to all our Jewish friends!
The circle of a year
In our modern, hi-tech society, most of us have lost touch with our true food source, which we are mostly ignorant of or simply take for granted.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/the-circle-of-a-year-603008
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, Rōʾš hašŠānā, literally "head of the year") is the JewishNew Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, Yōm Tərūʿā, lit. "day of shouting/blasting"). It is the first of the JewishHigh Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm, "Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25,[1] that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins a ten-day period of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur, as well as beginning the cycle of autumnal religious festivals running through Sukkot and ending in Shemini Atzeret.
Join us this year for the inaugural 50 Most Influential Jews event.
Meet the most creative, innovative, ambitious, philanthropic and successful people.
To celebrate the Jewish New Year, I quoted one of my favorite Jews earlier (-:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/98988/#98998